Pastor and psychologist Tan (Coping with Depression
) believes that we need to stop thinking so much about servant leadership and focus on servanthood. He says the hope of the church is not necessarily in its leaders but in those who choose to play the role of a servant, willing to tackle any task out of their love for Jesus. He contrasts servanthood with servitude, which is "slavery to other people's demands," and with self-righteous service, which is driven by pride rather than love. He also looks at the suffering, humility and rest that will accompany true service and places servanthood within the contexts of evangelism, work, home and church. Readers may get the sense that Tan is very passionate about this topic with much to teach, but that they have yet to truly hear his voice. Every chapter contains an endless list of references and quotes (i.e., Richard Foster's nine characteristics of true service, Brian McLaren's five strategies for rethinking evangelism, Bill Bright's 10 keys to leadership). These references are excellent, and it is of some value to have them all collected in one place, but at the end of the day this proves to be a difficult read with little value added to the string of quotations. (Mar.)
